(New Speedies/Railmasters) And goodness was it really difficult....

Hi guys

So today, being SpeedyTuesday, as well as being day 1 of Baselworld 2017 watches being at my nearest Omega Store (humble and thankful I am), I hopped on the trusty pedal-powered steed and made a quick stop of about 1.5h at said Omega Store to try a handful on. The Baselworld watches depart on Saturday and do a tour-d-Suisse for those of you in CH who may want to go try them on.

I focused (naturally) on the Speedmasters (non-oval-dial ones), and the new non-LE (controversial) Railmaster. And goodness was it really difficult not to get a hard-on every time they came and laid these beauties out in front of me ... what an experience, I think I come close to understanding how the watch-journalist-ninja-folk must feel! (For the ladies, if I was a lady I would have got the female equivalent...no offense meant, one-love and respect.)

For reference, my wrist is roughly 20.5cm/7.9 inch.

Speedy 60th LE

WOW. Just WOW. Love at first sight. What more can be said?

If the Z-axis is pointing out of your screen, X horizontal and Y vertical, the lugs follow a straight line in XY, but in ZY they follow the curve of your arm. Really smooth fit. The clasp, as mentioned, does appear a bit chunky for this watch, but the new quick-adjustment-feature (which also comes with the new Racing bracelet) is a very good compensation for the added bulk behind the wrist. Love the execution of the faux-patina as well as the dial. It is impossible to imagine this with white lume and a black dial. The only thing I was initially worried about last month from all the pics on our favourite watch blogs (and mine are worse but still manage to capture it in a similar way) was the 'blingy-shiny' appearance. I have yet to see a pic of this outdoors with natural scattered lighting, and the first thing that popped to mind when I got my grubby paws on this, was, that this watch will be toned done quite a bit, making it an understated stunner...I cannot wait to see it on leather/nato...

I believe this would also look reeeeeeally good on some of the ladies out there...

Gene Cernan Gold Apollo LE

A nice tribute to the last man on the moon...a gold Racing bezel with ceramic and some beautiful fine detail. The case-back is really beautiful. Compared to a regular Speedy Pro, the bezel is raised quite a bit (about 1mm, but look for yourself)...making the blue ceramic and gold bezel more prominent by bringing it closer to the plane of the crystal surface?

Speedmaster Racing

This was without a doubt my favorite in-the-flesh Racing...

( __ me, that dial...)

(The brown leather strap is also killer.)
Followed by a close second and third (again, much better in the flesh than in pictures):

Its a big watch, but the leather straps were stiff and not tight fitting, so these were not so well placed on the arm. The white one with the bracelet was. As can be seen there is still some arm left on either end of the watch (for me at least). The white one (and I assume its opposite colored sibling) also has a lumed bezel (the others do not).

Regarding the thickness : we (being the friendly Omega Lady and I) compared these with the titanium 9300 'Moonwatch' (Not!) and its clear to see that (albeit only slightly) both crystals have been changed. The bottom crystal is where most of the height difference has been gained.

One other thing worth mentioning, the 2017 Catalog still lists the 9300 models (i.e. the steel and titanium 'Moonwatch'), so it would appear they have not been discontinued yet (ablogtowatch mentioned that they were).

For the GSOTM fans, here is the grey Racing with Sedna gold. Also quite the beauty.

Railmaster Non-LE

The brushed steel dialed version dial is simply awesome. The following sequence of shots shows why ...

I made a video of this (as well as of the 60th Speedy) but the mods (correctly so) only allow linked video (thanks once again OF for this space).

This is simply-put a really nice honest watch. It reminds me (in spirit) very much of the Flieger e.g. Stowa Flieger T02 (no date). That said, I can imagine the following three details to bring it closer to the competition :

1) Remove the cross-hairs.
2) Laser-etch (or CNC mill) the hour markers into the dial (similar to Seamaster Coaxial 300 and the Speedmaster 57 moonwatch) and fill that.
3) Laser-etch (or CNC mill) the 3.6.9.12. and fill that, or even better still, have these raised (so the rest of the dial was CNC'd...).

Would love to know if Omega tried that.

Here is the black one (again, badly fitting strap so perspective distorted with respect to how big it looks).



And that's enough bla bla folks...




Sweet dreams 😀

Best regards,
Eugene

Wow thanks for the awesome write up!!!

great pictures, awesome shots on the wrist ! The new speedmaster racings look gorgeous 🥰

Great pictures! May I ask what you shot the pics with?

Thanks guys. The pics only look decent because I shrunk them (i.e. they werent so well focused, but shrinking decreases resolution so things that are pixelated or out of focus become sharper).

@semper_shells iPhone 6 plus (had it for 3+ years now). Is quite tough holding the watch in one hand, then the big-ass phone in the other, still trying to use one finger to tap-focus and then go all the way to the 'snap' button which is far on that screen real estate...

@Exarkun12 You can thank Omega watches ... they continue to make me do silly things...😀...

If I'm taking a wrist shot I usually hold the phone with my right hand, thumb on the left side and middle finger on the volume up/down button. Use your index finger to tap to focus and then press the volume up/down button to take the shot. That way you don't need to migrate all the way to the bottom of the screen to hit the snap button. I love the larger phones but definitely harder to use with one hand.

Thank you very much for the awesome write up, impressions, and pics!

Thanks for the tip @alohatime ... that sounds like one of the millions of new features I didnt get as they rolled along. Will definitely adjust my technique (which is still fresh, so easily adjusted)...

I think that I want to thank you, but these wrist shots are reminding me that I want one, or more, and it was just tax day.
Seriously, thanks for all your efforts!

Thanks for the awesome write up and photos!

By the way. Which was the favourite?

wow wow wow, is that railmaster going to be available from here on out? cause i am IN LOVE. but with the ST and 60th speedy on order, im fully tapped out for the year

Awesome thx! Any pics of the steel Apollo 17 by any chance??

Great post!

Thanks for the amazing write up and pictures. I'm glad I put my deposit down for the 60th Speedmaster. I'm sure i'll pick up another watch, just not sure which.

Hey @eugeneandresson, excellent write-up and live photos👍 Thank you!

That SS grey dial Racing Speedie and the Railmaster non-LE both show how much Omega is willing to expand their design range & color combos.

Not clear from your post as to whether there was any perceptible difference in fit/comfort between the new Racing Speedies and a standard XSOTM watch with the slight reduction in the bottom crystal...any follow-up comments from you would be highly appreciated😀

The racing Speedie is a good looking piece. Love the grey dial.